# How to advance employment discrimination research in an era of big data and analytics

**Authors:** Yvette P. Lopez, Helen LaVan, William M. Martin

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1605748 · Frontiers in Sociology · 2025-11-10

## TL;DR

This paper suggests using big data and legal research to better understand who faces employment discrimination and how to study it.

## Contribution

The paper proposes using empirical legal scholarship and large databases to advance employment discrimination research.

## Key findings

- Empirical legal scholarship can help identify employment discrimination subjects and search terms.
- Content and thematic analysis can provide deeper insights into employment discrimination cases.
- Future research should adopt an intersectional approach to better understand discrimination.

## Abstract

This paper examines recent research on employment discrimination and addresses basic issues concerning who should be the focal subjects of employment discrimination research and which search terms should be examined. This article proposes that the way forward in employment discrimination research is using empirical legal scholarship and various large databases that support a more holistic approach to examining the different subjects of employment discrimination and the various search terms used to identify employment discrimination issues. This article explains how empirical legal scholarship, content analysis, and thematic analysis can be utilized to better understand employment discrimination. The paper concludes with propositions and recommendations for future research, including an intersectional focus.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** discrimination (MESH:D010468)

## Full text

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## References

124 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12640919/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12640919